... Maximum Likelihood (REML) followed by the Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) is the most efficient method for the identification of individuals, which enables to achieve maximum genetic gain in ... due to Mendelian sampling of alleles, which is a source of significant additive variance (F, M 1996). Due to this build -up of genetic variance, it is possible to find superior progeny ... observations in Y. Second, they are unbiased in the sense that the average value of the estimate (with respect to the distribution of Y) is equal to the expected value of the quantities being...